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RCHI Events

Forthcoming events

•  November/ December 2009.
  • Dr Anne Smith (RCH) and Professor David Wells (Monash University)  will conduct workshops at the National Hospital of Pediatrics, Hanoi, on Child Protection. 
  • Dr Lloyd Shield (Neurologist) will spend 3-4 weeks in the Neurology Department  at NHP teaching clinical skills 
  • Professor Graeme Barnes (RCH) will provide a consultancy at NHP on the infrastructure and strategy needed for establishing a Research Centre
  • Mr John Stanway (Executive Director, Clinical Support Services, RCH) and Professor Garry Warne (Director RCHI) will visit the NHP Education and Training Project and the Hue Cardiovascular Training Project
  • Dr Krishna Hort (Nossal Institute of Global Health) will visit the Education & Training Project at NHP to review management training plans
  • On November 21-22, Dr Krishna Hort and Dr Taffy Jones will facilitate the second Leadership Retreat for the National Hospital of Pediatrics
  • Professor Andrew Sinclair (Murdoch Children's Research Institute) and Professor Garry WArne (RCHI) will visit the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi and the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Science, Lucknow, to explore possible research collaborations in the filed of molecular genetics.
  • Professor Garry Warne will make an initial visit to the Christian Medical College at Vellore, South India
  • Professor Dan Penny, Professor James Wilkinson and Mrs Mai Eames (RCHI) will visit the Hue Cardiovascular Training Project.

Recent events

• October 23rd 2009. Official opening at NHP of the new Infectious Diseases building, in the presence of the Vietnamese Vice Minister of Health, Mr Tran Chi Liem and members of the Atlantic Philanthropies Board.
• Cardiac Nursing course at Hue Central Hospital, provided by RCH nurses.
• Oncology training, with special reference to brain tumour and neuroblastoma, as part of Education and Training Project provided at NHP by A/Prof David Ashley

• February 2009: Autism training program delivered at Hospital No. 1 in Ho Chi Minh City
• January 2009: Teaching skills workshop for nurses delivered at the National Hospital of Pediatrics, Hanoi
• November 2008: 6 month Paediatric nursing program completed at the National Hospital of Pediatrics, Hanoi
• November 2008: Nursing Training delivered in Chandigargh, India
• October 13-15, 2008. Biomedical statistics workshop. National Hospital of Pediatrics, Hanoi
• October 16-17, 2008: Annual Vietnam-Australia Scientific Paediatric Conference, National Hospital of Pediatrics, Hanoi
• Sept 1-6. Visit to Vientiane, Laos by Prof Garry Warne, to work with RCH registrar and Australian Youth Ambassador for Development, Dr Angela Luangrath in supporting the work of Health Frontiers in teaching Lao paediatric residents, and to be a co-presenter with Professor Nguyen Thanh Liem from Hanoi at a Paediatric Conference to be held at the Mother and Child Hospital.July 4, 2008. Farewell to Helen Crawford. Helen, RCHI’s Business Development Manager since 2003, is leaving RCH to take up a new position as PA to the CEO of Monash IVF. Helen’s great contribution to RCHI’s development is highly appreciated and we wish her well.
• August 25th. RCHI welcomes two new staff members, Annie Major (Senior Program Officer) and Abbey Keating (Operations Manager).

  • August 9-16. Visit to Hanoi by Dr Krishna Hort (International Hospital Systems and Project Management Adviser, Nossal Institute of Global Health), Prof Andrew Kornberg, Director of Neurosciences at RCH, Prof Garry Warne (Director, RCHI) and Dr Alison Morgan, International Training Systems Adviser, NIGH). Education and Training Project Management Committee meeting will be held on August 13th. Also visiting will be Mr Robert N Gray (Director, Health Planning International).August 7, 2008. RCHI Director in Ho Chi Minh City for meetings at RMIT and Children's Hospital No.1.
  • August 8th. RCHI Director in Da Nang for meetings with English Language Institute, University of Da Nang, and to give lectures at Da Nang General Hospital. 
  • July 2. Visit to Children’s Hospital No.1, Ho Chi Minh City by Prof Garry Warne, for the annual meeting of the CAH Club and the inaugural meeting of the Diabetes Club.
• June 30-July 4. Site visit to the Hue Cardiovascular Project by Prof Garry Warne, Prof Dan Penny (Hue Cardiovascular Training Project Manager) and Ms Mai Eames (Asst Project Manager). The 2^nd Steering Committee meeting was held  on July 1^st.
• June 15-17. Visit to Hanoi by Prof Garry Warne, to work with Atlantic Philanthropies on the NHP Redevelopment Project, and for a meeting at the Ministry of Health to discuss nursing practice development.
• May 31-June 7. Visit to RCH Melbourne by Mrs Pham Thu Ha (Director of Nursing, NHP Hanoi) and Mrs Duong Hoa (Vice-Director of Nursing, NHP) for discussions about nursing practice development and the future of nurse education at NHP under the Education and Training Project.
• May 14-21.  Visit to NHP, Hanoi by Dr Alison Morgan (International Training Systems Adviser, NHP Education & Training Project) and Prof Garry Warne (RCHI Director).
• May 21-24.Visit to NHP Hanoi by Cytogeneticist Dr Jacinta Ryan for consultation in the Molecular Genetics laboratory on Quality Assurance and technical development
• May 19-23. Workshop on Endoscopic Urology presented at the National Hospital of Pediatrics, Hanoi by paediatric surgeons from RCH and Monash Medical Centre: Mr Chris Kimber, Mr Neil McMullin and Professor Wei Cheng.
• May 19-30. Cardiac Training Course for Nurses, Hue Central Hospital Cardiovascular Centre. International Faculty: Ms Sophie O’Haire (Clinical Facilitator Nurse, Cardiac and Renal Ward, RCH Melbourne), Ms Danielle Peucker (Unit Manager, Cardiac and Renal Ward, RCHM) and Ms Dianne McKinley (Clinical Nurse Educator, PICU, RCHM)
• April 14-18. Professor David Ashley, Director of the Children’s Cancer Centre at RCH Melbourne visited NHP for consultations about the training needs in Oncology.
• April 14-17. Dr Chris Barnes, Haematologist, Laboratory Services, RCH Melbourne visited NHP to discuss quality assurance programs and training needs in relation to disorders of haemostasis.
• April 14-18. Dr Kris Hort (Nossal Institute of Global Health) and Professor Garry Warne visited NHP to discuss mobilization of the 3-year Human Resource Capacity Building project at NHP. They had valuable discussions with Dr Le Nhan Phuong (Atlantic Philanthropies), Dr Tran Tuan (Director, RTCCD), Professor Pham Manh Hung (Vice Chairman, CPE, Communist Party) and Dr Dinh Phuong Hoa (Ministry of Health).
• April 10 and 11. Conference: ‘Autism in Children’ at Children’s Hospital No.1, Ho Chi Minh City. Guest Speaker: Professor Margot Prior, Professor of Psychology, University of Melbourne.
• April 6-12. RCHI staff Mai Eames and Helen Crawford visited the Heart Institute, Ho Chi Minh City and the Hue Central Hospital Cardiovascular Centre for review of the Hue Cardiovascular Training Project.
• March 30. Brendan Allen, International Project Manager for the NHP Education & Training Project, arrived in Hanoi to take up his full time position. Contact: Brendan Stewart Allen [bsallen@unimelb.edu.au]
• March 30-April 4. Visit of Associate Professor Jill Sewell, Deputy Director, Centre for Community Child Health, to Children’s Hospital No.1 for discussions with Dr Pham Ngoc Thanh and colleagues from the Unit of Pyschology about developmental disorders in children, including autism spectrum disorder.
• March 6-14. Dr Anne Read, Chemical Pathologist, visited the Biochemistry Department at NHP to consult on quality assurance and future directions
• March 6-14. Dr Alan Wise, Radiologist, visited the NHP Radiology Department and provided a number of teaching sessions, as well as advice on training needs and future directions.
• January 6-11, 2008. Clinical Chemistry workshops at NHP,  conducted by Ronda Greaves, Senior Clinical Biochemist, Royal Children’s Hospital. Ronda consulted with her counterparts at NHP about possible ways of further developing quality assurance programs at NHP.
• Jan 6-11. Prof Garry Warne (RCHI) and Mia Urbano (Senior Program Officer, Nossal Institute of Global Health) held meetings with NHP Executives and others about the mobilization of the Education & Training Project at NHP.

Vietnamese postgraduate trainees in Melbourne, 2008

• Dr Nguyen Long Tan, Cardiac Surgeon from Hue Central Hospital. To spend 2 years as Cardiac Surgery Fellow at RCH with Mr Christian Brizard.
• Dr Nguyen Tat Dung, Anaesthetist from Hue Central Hospital. Six months as an observer in the Department of Anaesthesia at RCH.
• Dr Trung Tuan Anh, Perfusionist from Hue Cardiovascular Centre. Six months as an observer in the Department of Anaesthesia, RCH studying Perfusion techniques.
• Dr Thai Viet Tuan, Cardiology trainee from Hue Cardiovascular Centre. For two years in the Dept of Cardiology at RCH.
• Dr Dang Anh Tuan, Neurologist, National Hospital of Pediatrics, Hanoi. Two months as an observer studying EEG in the RCH Neurosciences Centre
• Dr Tran Van Hoc, Neurologist, National Hospital of Pediatrics, Hanoi. Two months as an observer studying EEG in the RCH Neurosciences Centre
• Dr Thai Thien Nam, Nephrologist. Six months as an observer with A/Prof Mandy Walker in the Paediatric Nephrology Unit at Monash Medical Centre, part-sponsored by RCHI

New project awarded to RCHI

On December 14th, The Atlantic Philanthropies Board awarded a major new project, “Improving Human Resource Capacity at National Hospital of Pediatrics: Education and Training Program” to RCHI. The project, which will run for three years (2008-2010), involves a collaboration between RCHI and the Nossal Institute of Global Health to build HR capacity at NHP in Workforce capacity to teach and learn, Leadership and support services, and Clinical Services. More detail can be found in this website under Projects.

Dr Susan M Carden, RCH Ophthalmologist, has been awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by the University of Melbourne for her thesis entitled: “Retinopathy of prematurity in a transitional economy: comparisons and contrasts with developed countries”. The thesis reports on the work of Dr Carden and colleagues who in 1999, initiated the screening for Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) in premature newborn infants born in Vietnam. This led later to the introduction of laser photocoagulation for the prevention of blindness. The work was supported by RCHI.

What happened in 2007?

• December 14^th 2007. RCHI Planning Workshop. This half-day workshop was chaired by Professor David Wilmoth (Director, Learning Cities International), and included the following participants: Professor Glenn Bowes (Associate Dean, Faculty of Medicine), Professor Rob Moodie (Professor of Global Health, Nossal Institute), Dr Krishna Hort (Director of Programs, Nossal Institute), Mr Patrick Burroughs (Member of RCH Board), Ann Clark (Executive Director, Corporate, RCH), Professor Dan Penny (Director of Cardiology, RCH), Professor Andrew Kornberg (Director of Neurosciences, RCH), Prof Garry Warne (Director, RCHI) and Helen Crawford (Business Development Manager, RCHI).
• November 30^th. Visit of Mrs Kirsty Sword Gusmao, wife of the President of East Timor,  and a delegation from Rotary.
• November 6th. Annual meeting of the Ho Chi Minh City Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) Support Group, jointly sponsored by CLAN (Caring and Living as Neighbours, Australia) and RCHI. Speakers and facilitators: Dr Nguyen Bich Phuong (HCMC) and Dr Bui Phuong Thao (Hanoi), Dr Kate Armstrong, Mrs Michele Konheiser and Prof Garry Warne (Australia).

What RCHI achieved in 2006

October 17th. Royal Children’s Hospital Gold Medal presented to RCHI Director, Prof Garry Warne.

VIETNAM: HANOI

• February 27 - Mar 4. Visit of RCHI Director and University of Melbourne Dept of Paediatrics Senior Lecturer ,Jenny Gough,  to Hanoi (National Hospital of Pediatrics, Atlantic Philanthropies, Information technology Institute, T&A Vietnam and RTCCD). RCHI Director to Ho Chi Minh City (Heart Institute and Children's Hospital No.1).
• May 15-18. Research Development Workshop, NHP, Hanoi (Dr Karen Dunn, Ms Polly Hardy, Statistician, Dr Amy Gray).
• June 2-5. RCHI delegation to Hanoi. Prof Garry Warne and Ms Mai Eames (RCHI), Ms Elizabeth Loughlin (RCH Social Worker) and Dr Katrina Armstrong (Founder and President of CLAN) visit the National Hospital of Pediatrics to assist the organizers of the Annual Meeting of the Vietnam Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia Club, jointly sponsored by RCHI and CLAN. Also meeting with Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation staff (Mrs Linh) about self help groups in Vietnam.
• August 7-11. A/Prof Karin Teidemann (Head, Bone Marrow Transplant Unit), Linda Burnett and Sue King (nurses in Haematology & Oncology and Infection Control) assisted NHP in Hanoi with its first paediatric bone marrow transplant. The recipient was a child with aplastic anaemia. The transplant was successful.
• Oct 17-21. Visit to NHP Hanoi by Prof Garry Warne and Prof David Wilmoth, to finalise the Master Plan for Staff Training at NHP.
  November 20-22. Annual Vietnam-Australia Scientific Meeting , Hanoi.

VIETNAM: HUE

• May 31-June 1. Garry Warne and Mai Eames visit Hue, Vietnam for meetings with Prof Bui Duc Phu about progress on the Hue Cardiovascular Centre Staff Training Project. Meeting with Professor Tran Huu Dang, Associate Professor Nguyen Hai Thuy and Dr Hoang Thi Thuy Yen in the Endocrinology Department of the Hue University Hospital to discuss the strategy for improving the management of congenital adrenal hyperplasia in Vietnam.
• July 21st. Video conference with Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Rennes , France to discuss their involvement in the Hue Cardiovascular Training Project.
• August 23rd. Site visit to the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Rennes, France by Prof Garry Warne (Project Director) and Mr Olivier Liacre (independent consultant) for discussions with senior executives Professor Le Guerrier, Mr Le Goffe and Mrs Sal-Simon about the Hue Cardiovascular Training Project.
• Sept 11-14. Site visit to Hue Central Hospital Cardiovascular Centre, and to the Heart Institute in Ho Chi Minh City by members of the Cardiovascular Training Project Management team - Prof Dan Penny (Project Manager), Mia Eames (Program Manager (International), Helen Crawford (Business Development Manager) and Helen Milton (Coordinator).
• November 23. Site visit to Hue Central Hospital to review progress on the Hue Cardiovascular Training Project (Garry Warne and Olivier Liacre).
• November 24-29. Visit to Melbourne by Management Training Coordinator RCHI (Mr Olivier Liacre )for meetings about management training in the Hue Cardiovascular Training Project

VIETNAM: HO CHI MINH CITY

• May 29-30. Prof Garry Warne and Mai Eames (RCHI Program Manager Interenational) visit Ho Chi Minh City for meetings at the Heart Institute (about Hue CVC Staff Training) and Children's Hospital No.1.
• October 12-17. Clinical Quality and Safety Course at Children's Hospital No.1 in Ho Chi Minh City (Dr Karen Dunn)
• November 6. Clinical Workshop on Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia. Children’s Hospital No.1 (107 participants)
• November 7. Inauguration of CAH Support Club for the south of Vietnam.

INDONESIA

• January 23-Feb 16. Site visit to Yogyakarta and Aceh (Dr Kris Hort and Mia Urbano, AIHI), Ruth Wraith (TA Mental Health program) and A/Prof Trevor Duke (TA Clinical Services, IMCI and IT programs). Meetings with World Vision Australia and University of Gadjah Mada Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Psychology staff.]
• May 15-19. Delegation from University of Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta Indonesia, visits RCH and the University of Melbourne. Professor Hardyanto (Dean, Faculty of Medicine), Dr Yati Soenarto (Head, Paediatric Department) and Professor Soenarto (former Dean, Faculty of Medicine). Dr Yati gives Grand Rounds on Rotavirus research and the 30-year collaboration in which she has been involved with Ruth Bishop and Graeme Barnes from RCH Dept of Gastroenterology. Rotavix vaccine launched during the visit. 
• May 20-24. Site visit to Meulaboh, Aceh Province, Indonesia by Dr Kris Hort (Associate Project Director) and Ms Ruth Wraith (Technical Adviser, Mantal Health project).
• May 25-27. Site visit to University of Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta by Dr Kris Hort and Ms Ruth Wraith
• May 27, 6:15AM. MAJOR EARTHQUAKE HITS YOGYAKARTA. RUTH WRAITH AND KRIS HORT EVACUATED UNHURT FROM NOVOTEL, YOGYAKARTA. OVER 6000 PEOPLE KILLED, 30,000 INJURED  AND MORE THAN HALF A MILLION HOMELESS.
• May 27-28. Visit to Jakarta by Prof Garry Warne. Visit to Dr Purnamawati's Health Education Program for Parents (HEPP) focusing on Rational Use of Drugs. Meeting with Dr Purnamawati (see photo in Gallery) and doctors from WHO (Dr Hanny Roespandi and Dr Davide Manissero) about future project development and support from RCHI.
• July 25-29. Site visit to Yogyakarta Indonesia by Mia Urbano (Project Manager) and Garry Warne (Project Director) for meetings about the UGM-Aceh project. Garry Warne gave a lecture to the Paediatric Dept on Growth Problems in Childhood.
• November 12-17. Site visit to our project in Aceh and Yogyakarta (Garry Warne, Uma Jatkar, Ruth Wraith)
  INDIAFebruary. Indian Nurse Training project. RCHI delegation led by Jane Wilcock delivers paediatric ICU nurse training courses at Sundaram Medical Centre, Chennai and Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Research, Lucknow, India.

INTERNET TELEMEDICINE

• June 7-9. Conference of ministerial advisers at Ha Long Bay, with demonstrations of international videoconferencing using the internet, to discuss the Trans-Eurasia Internet Technology Phase 2 (TEIN2) project. RCHI assists with a videoconference streamed live between Professor Nguyen Thanh Liem and his patient at the National Hospital of Pediatrics in Hanoi, and Mr Chris Kimber, surgeon, speaking from RCH Melbourne.
• July 19-20. Meeting of Asia Pacific Advanced Network (APAN) in Singapore, attended by RCHI Director. This meeting gave RCHI the opportunity to meet other medical users of the internet video conferencing system and to see  an impressive demonstration of tele surgery (involving Taiwan, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore) and a video mini-conference about Maternal and Child Health with presentations made live to an audience in Singapore from Bangkok, Japan and Indonesia. Discussions about setting up an Australian network of medical users were held.
• July 28th. Video conference with NHP, Hanoi using the TEIN2 internet, to plan for the forthcoming first paediatric bone marrow transplant at NHP. Haematologists and Infection Control teams from RCH and NHP talked for an hour.
• November: Live clinical consultation about Adolescent Health between Melbourne and Hanoi used as demonstration of internet telemedicine for Annual Vietnam-Australia Scientific Conference for an audience of  >200.

LAOS

• Visits to Vientiane were made by Prof Glenn Bowes and Ms Jenny Gough (Dept of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne) to attend the CME Conference and to discuss future joint activities
• Lao nurses participated in Paediatric Nurse Training Courses being run at NHP in Hanoi under the auspices of RCHI
• Four Lao paediatricians were sponsored to attend the Annual Vietnam-Australia Scientific Conference at NHP in Hanoi

COMMUNITY FUND-RAISER

• September 22nd. Fund raising dinner organized by the Australian-Vietnamese Women's Welfare Association raises $10,000 to support a project for prevention of blindness in Vietnam.

Sponsored clinical attachments at RCH for Asian doctors in 2006

• January 30-April 14. Dr Nguyen Bich Phuong, Children's Hospital No. 1 Ho Chi Minh City, to Dept of Endocrinology & Diabetes
• April 24-May 15. Dr Tuan, NHP Hanoi, to Infectious Diseases Dept
• April 24-May 5. Mrs Moc, Molecular Genetics Laboratory, NHP to Cytogenetics Dept,Victorian Clinical Genetics Service
• May 5-June 30. Dr Tho, Dept of Surgery, NHP to study Faciomaxilliary Surgery in the Dept of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
• July 17-Sept 8. Dr Le Kim Ngoc, Radiology Dept NHP to Dept of Medical Imaging (Ultrasonography) RCH
• July 17- October 6. Dr Do Minh Loan, Paediatrician NHP to Centre for Adolescent Health
• August 14 - Sept 3. Dr Purnamawati Pujiarto from the Health Education for Parents Program, Jakarta. To attend a Quality Assurance and Safety Conference and to have strategic meetings in Melbourne and Newcastle about support for HEPP.
• Sept 11-Oct 6. Dr Le Xuan Ngoc, Emergency Dept NHP to Emergency Dept RCH
• Oct 23-Nov 17. Dr Dr Le Thi Thu Huong, Neonatal Dept NHP to Neonatal Dept RCH
• Oct 23-Nov 17. Dr Mai Thi Hong Hanh, Molecular Genetics Laboratory NHP to Clinical Genetics Services, MCRI
• Oct 23-Dec 1. Dr Tran Lien Anh, NHP to Neonatology Dept, RCH

Report: Annual Vietnam-Australia Scientific Conference, Hanoi . November 20-22, 2006

The Conference was  officially opened by H.E Dr Nguyen Thi Xuyen, Deputy Minister of Health.. As in previous years, it attracted a capacity audience of 300 paediatricians from all parts of Vietnam. We were delighted that 6 Lao and 4 Cambodian paediatricians also accepted invitations to attend. This year’s conference was extended from two days to three, with the first day being devoted to a Clinical Workshop based around interesting case presentations. This generated an enthusiastic discussion and was an ideal way of involving the audience as active participants. Guest speakers from Australia were A/Prof Karin Teidemann (Oncologist and Head, Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, RCH), Dr Andrew Kennedy (Adolescent Health Physician, Centre for Adolescent Health, RCH), A/Prof Mimi Tang (Director of Immunology and Allergy, RCH), Professor Glenn Bowes (Stevenson Professor of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne) and Prof Garry Warne. (Endocrinologist). Professor Steven Ringer (Brigham and Women’s Hospital Harvard University, Boston USA) and Professor Tove Rosen (Columbia University, NY, USA) also gave lectures on Neonatology. A special feature of the conference was the inclusion of a live video conference via the internet between RCH Melbourne and NHP Hanoi. A total of 17 excellent papers were presented by Vietnamese research groups.

The Research Development Award was hotly contested by 10 finalists selected from a total field of 30-40 submissions. First prize went to Dr Le Hong Quang for his paper “ Results for cardiac intervention in National Hospital of Pediatrics”. Second prize went to the youngest competitor, Miss Nguyen Thi Phuong Mai of NHP for “Determining SMN-t and SMN-c gene deletion using PCR technique in patients with spinal muscular atrophy”. Third prize was awarded to Dr Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong of NHP for her paper entitled “Cerebral artery spasm after intracranial haemorrhage: detection with transcranial Doppler sonography”.

Report: Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia Clinical Workshop, Children's Hospital No.1, Ho Chi Minh City.

The meeting was held on November 6th 2006 with an audience of 107 paediatricians, endocrinologists, obstetrcians, psychologists, social workers and nurses. Vietnamese speakers were Dr Tang Chi Thuong (Director, CH1), Dr Nguyen Bich Phuong (Paeediatric Endocrinologist), Dr  Le Tan Son (paediatric surgeon), Dr Nguyen Thi Thuy An (Lecturer in Paediatrics, University of Medicine and Pharmacy), Professor Nguyen Thuy Khue (Endocrinologist, University of Medicine and Pharmacy) and Dr Nguyen Ngoc Thanh (Child Psychologist). Australian speakers were Prof Garry Warne, Dr Margaret Zacharin (RCH), Dr Kate Armstrong and Ms Claire Henderson (CLAN) and the Thai guest speaker was Dr Preamrudee Poomthavorn (Ramathibodi Hospital, Bangkok). The topics covered all aspects of CAH as it affects children, adults and families. A lively discussion about psychosexual aspects of females with CAH and the challenge of how to make hydrocortisone and Florinef freely available at affordable prices, ended the day.

November 7th 2006. Inauguration of a CAH Support Club for parents and patients in the south of Vietnam.

About 45 families attended and were welcomed by the Vice-Director of Children's Hospital No. 1, Dr Hung. An explanation of medical aspects of CAH was given by Dr Phuong, following the distribution of newly produced booklets in Vietnamese. Talks were given by Dr Kate Armstrong (Family Doctor and parent of a 7-yr old boy with CAH), Claire Henderson (an Endocrine Nurse who herself has non salt-wasting CAH), Prof Garry Warne, Dr Margaret Zacharin and Mrs Le, a parent. Group discussions covered many areas of concern to families. The following are examples of the questions parent asked. "My baby is 2 months old. Won't giving extra salt hurt his stomach?" "Why is my child's skin so dark?" "Why is that whenever my son gets sick, he has seizures?" "Do I allow my son to eat sugar and salt whenever he likes?"  "The hospital provides my child's medicines one month at a time but I live too far away and we are too poor to be able to come back so often. What should I do?" "How can a person know she is a carrier for CAH before she marries?" "Our immunization centre refused to immunize my child because he takes hydrocortisone. Is it safe to immunize?" "What are the side effects of steroids?" "My daughter has big muscles and a deep voice. Is it to do with having CAH?"

Special article: A registrar’s experience in Hanoi

By Amy Gray

Before leaving for Hanoi if you’d asked me what I was going to do for the year I wouldn’t have been able to tell you, and was less confident than most about my chances of finding work. I had just finished basic training, completed my RACP exams and had been disheartened by a couple of months of searching job opportunities that seemed to either require someone more specialised than me or less specifically skilled.

Within three weeks of arriving I had three jobs: The first, running a general paediatric clinic and paediatric emergency consultation service. The second at a local Vietnamese NGO where I am working on evaluation of health program and policy, including evaluation of the Advanced Paediatric Life Support program that has been run in Vietnam through RCHI. The last, working at The National Hospital of Paediatrics in Hanoi, thanks to the strong connection that has been developed between The Hospital and RCHI.

The National Hospital of Pediatrics is a 600+ bed hospital whose main entry road is the width of Flinders Lane and is made smaller still by the many vendors, bikes and bystanders that spill onto its edges. Often gridlocked by motorbikes, ambulances get no special standing on this road. Like almost every other doctor at the hospital, I arrive at work on motorbike. Unlike them I am not brave enough to ride it myself and, in true display of “foreign-ness”, wear a helmet.

From small beginnings my role at the hospital has grown and evolved. At my initial introduction I was a willing body to assist doctors and nurses in English speaking and medical English pronunciation, while spending time on the wards with medical rounds to participate in patient management. My classes, some of which have more than 30 participants, have thrived on the opportunity. From relatively simple exercises in vocabulary and pronunciation the classes have grown to encompass cases presentation skills and ways to analyse and discuss clinical issues. Only recently, weekly public case presentations have been introduced.

We are developing the curriculum from the classes into a medical text for Vietnamese doctors to learn medical English and case presentation skills, while establishing some key local staff who can make the gains we have achieved this year sustainable. As the Hospital and its partners look to introduce e-medicine applications and expand international collaborations, skills in this area are a vital component of professional development. For me, my involvement in this process is important for another reason. I think it is a good example of how opportunities and needs can be identified and developed by anyone who has a little motivation to do so, and it is just one of the endless opportunities I have seen this year.

Throughout the year I have participated in many other RCHI activities; work with research capacity building has enabled me to reinforce my own knowledge; working on NHP’s education and training strategy to plan for its redevelopment over the next 10 years has provided insights well beyond my medical training; involvement in the RCHI team helping NHP perform their first bone marrow transplantation was a unique and rewarding experience; as well as CAH club activities, a journal club and the upcoming clinical workshop and scientific conference. Did I mention I have two other jobs?

Now when people ask me what I am doing in Hanoi, I hardly know where to begin.

Melbourne-Hanoi collaboration on the development of Vietnamese adolescent health services

by Garry Warne

In 2003, the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the General Statistics Office, Unicef and WHO, published its Survey Assessment of Vietnamese Youth (SAVY), “the largest and most comprehensive survey of youth ever undertaken in Vietnam”. This survey of 7,584 young people aged 14 to 25 years from all parts of the country identified the many challenges being faced by teenagers and young adults in a rapidly changing economic and social environment. The population of Vietnam exceeds 80 million, of whom 34% are under 15. Some problems familiar in Australia, such as anorexia nervosa, are rare in Vietnam but there is an increase in school problems (behaviour problems, learning difficulties, school dropout), teenage pregnancies, illicit drug use and HIV-AIDS that has led the Government to encourage the development of Adolescent Health services in Vietnam. Both NHP in Hanoi and Children’s Hospital No.1 in Ho Chi Minh City now have adolescent clinics. RCHI has been providing support for the 1-year old Adolescent Clinic in Hanoi.

            Former Head of the Centre for Adolescent Health, Professor Glenn Bowes, has visited Hanoi on a number of occasions and as well as giving lectures on Adolescent Health, he has been available to advise the Director of NHP on what the establishment of adolescent services would involve. The Head of the RCH Adolescent Gynaecology Clinic, Associate Professor Sonia Grover, visited NHP for the 2004 annual meeting of the CAH (congenital adrenal hyperplasia) Club and with a Vietnamese adult gynaecologist, Dr Nguyen Thi Tan Sinh, ran a clinic in which they examined almost 50 girls and young women who had had surgery for ambiguous genitalia. In 2005, Sonia’s RCH colleague Yasmin Jayasinghe spent several weeks in Hanoi and carried out a needs assessment focusing on adolescent gyanecology services. The Adolescent Clinic at NHP was opened while Yasmin was in Hanoi. She recognized that with one staff member, Dr Do Minh Loan, the clinic would take time to develop and that RCH should look for ways of providing strategic support.

            In 2006, Dr Loan was invited to spend three months working under the supervision of Professor Susan Sawyer and Dr Andrew Kennedy in the Centre for Adolescent Health. She found her time in Melbourne very stimulating and although things are very different here from Hanoi, there was much that she could learn and take back to Hanoi. She wrote: “Here is what I have learned and can apply in my adolescent clinic in NHP: 1. Psychosocial problems - school refusal, poor school performance, family conflict, anxiety, depression, sexual abuse. 2. Physical growth: height and weight assessment; obesity. 3. Puberty: delayed puberty. 4. Gynaecological problems: irregular period, dysmenorrheal and premenstrual syndrome; amenorrhea; STD, genital infection, contraception. 5. Eating disorder: anorexia nervosa, bulimia. 6. CAH girls: counseling about sexual aspects.”

            Each year, RCHI supports the Annual Vietnam-Australia Scientific Conference which is held at NHP and to which nearly 300 paediatricians from all parts of Vietnam come. This year delegates from Laos and Cambodia will also be invited. One of the themes chosen for this year’s conference is Adolescent Health and an exciting program has been designed. RCH will be represented by Adolescent Physician Dr Andrew Kennedy and Professor Glenn Bowes. On the first day of the conference, Andrew, Glenn and Dr Loan will present a clinical workshop based on case discussions. On the second day, Andrew Kennedy and Dr Loan will jointly give a plenary lecture that will focus on what an adolescent clinic does and how the needs of adolescent patients differ from those of children and adults. Following the lecture, a very exciting live demonstration of telemedicine using the internet will take place. A Vietnamese family who was seeing Dr Loan when she was in Melbourne has generously agreed to speak to her (and the whole audience assembled in the lecture theatre at NHP) from Melbourne in video conference. This amazing technical advance is possible thanks to the opening of the Trans-Eurasia Internet (TEIN2).

            RCH’s outstanding Educational Resource Centre (ERC) is also part of the collaboration with the Adolescent Clinic at NHP. A stylish, full colour brochure to advertise the new clinic has been designed by the ERC graphic designers and artists, using Dr Loan’s Vietnamese text. A copy will be handed out to each paediatrician attending the annual conference.

            This collaboration is a good example of what RCHI tries to do – build capacity, strengthen existing institutions using the priorities of the host institution, transfer technology and develop warm personal relationships between colleagues and departments. All of this is possible thanks to the very strong and continuing support of the Atlantic Philanthropies and the enthusiasm of the RCH community to become involved and help when asked to do so.

What RCHI achieved in 2005

Education & Training

• Over 60 Vietnamese Advanced Paediatric Life Support (APLS) Instructors completed their training and  more than 250 doctors and nurses completed basic APLS training. The Vietnamese MOH agreed to provide a budget for APLS in 2006 and to send a recommendation for AusAid to consider funding the ongoing Australian involvement.
• We established the first Paediatric Nurse Training Curriculum to be taught  by Vietnamese instructors in the Vietnamese language. Nam Dinh Nursing College agreed in principle to  accept responsibility for the course and integrate it into its program.
• We delivered a comprehensive Infection Control training program to many doctors and nurses at NHP in Hanoi
• We started work on the Hue Cardiovascular Centre Training Project in which over 80 staff for a new cardiovascular centre will be trained over 5 years.
• We delivered high quality paediatric nurse training programs inIndia and South Africa
• We supported periods of training at RCH Melbourne for doctors and nurses from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City Danang and South Africa

Research capacity building

• We expanded Research capacity building activities at NHP in Hanoi, through workshops and mentoring of young researchers
• We provided computers and high speed internet connections to improve library facilities and access to internet for NHP staff in Hanoi

Projects

• We completed the writing of a Health Services Plan for the redevelopment of the National Hospital of Pediatrics inHanoi. Phase 1 of construction was approved by both the Ministry of Health and the donor, Atlantic Philanthropies and will commence in 2006.
• In collaboration with the University of Melbourne Deaprtment of Paediatrics and the University of Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta, we established a major 3-year project of tsunami reconstruction and development in Aceh Barat & Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Province, Indonesia, funded by World Vision Australia
• With the help of CLAN, we achieved a significant breakthrough in the availability of essential drugs and educational resources for children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia in Vietname
• We were invited to collaborate with the National Hospital of Pediatrics in Hanoi to develop a masterplan for staff training at NHP for the next 6 years

New international relationships

• RCHI established links with paediatricians inLaos and Cambodia. For Laos, a unique three way program of cooperation between Australia, Vietnam and Laos has been started. An APLS course was run successfully in Cambodia.
• Securing the future of RCHI
• RCHI’s infrastructure grant from Atlantic Philanthropies was renewed
• Three new donors approached RCHI with offers of support for projects

Archive of events